day 69

March 9, 2010

 

Day 69:

 

 

Boy oh boy was today a stressful, annoying day. The day started with me waking up almost an hour later than I usually do. My internal clock is usually much more reliable but this morning I was just exhausted. I didn’t have anything terribly important to do, though, so it wasn’t too big of a deal. I went to puzzlemaker.com and made a crossword and word search puzzle for my diligent kids. I figured they’d enjoy that and have a fun academic experience.

            While my diligent kkids were completing their puzzles, the majority of the class was still working on their review packets. I spent the whole day at my desk looking over the kids’ review packets and pointing out their individual mistakes. It’s amazing how many times one can hear the same thing and not process it. There were, at all times, at least three people at my desk and almost every time, they all had the same mistakes. This happens for two reasons. The first reason is, none of them can come up on their own so they copy the work from each other and then turn in the same packet at the same time. Hence the reason they all have the same incorrect answers. The second reason is, although they turn them in at the same time I can only look at one of them at a time. So while I’m explaining the mistake to the first kid, the second kid just isn’t paying attention. I don’t want to embarrass the kid just because he turned in his packet first but its almost better for me to use his incorrect example for everyone that’s standing at my desk. Occasionally, some people, mostly girls will hear my comments to one student and return to their desk to fix that same mistake. That’s encouraging. But far more commonly, the kids just don’t pick up on these things.

            Also, it’s amazing how terrible these kids’ retention is. Before, it was clear to me that the kids can’t retain information from one day to the next. As the term has gone on, I’m realizing that they often can’t retain information from one page to the next. The bottom of page one is “The Forms of Be”, the top of page two is “An application of the Forms of Be”. These kids literally don’t understand that they can look at page one and get ALL the answers to page 2. Like they just don’t understand how lessons work together; how one tense builds off of the other; how the adjective lesson built off of the noun lesson. It’s astonishing. It goes to show the impact of nature vs. nurture.

            So many people argue that things like intelligence and personality is innate and encrypted in our genetic code. I used to be pretty unsure and impartial to either. I have a firm opinion now though. It’s clear to me that if these kids aren’t pushed and challenged cognitively by a certain age then they simply can’t think critically. And what I’m doing is nowhere near critical thinking. I wonder what they do here for their kids so that they develop. I also wonder how long it took this culture to learn to fish. I mean that’s very much a trial and error activity and it’s the backbone of this economy and recreation in the Marshall Islands. They merely don’t retain information. I wonder how often they try to catch a tuna with a nightcrawler and realize it won’t work. Every day? I mean by the transitive property, every time they go out to fish they start with the same ineffective bait as they did before regardless of how successful the minnow or blue gill may have been.

            So that was pretty frustrating. I had to spend ten minutes with Barren, in my fourth period, explaining that no matter what the sentence says if the subject is “I” the be verb  is “am. If the subject is “he/she/it” the be verb is “is”. And if the subject is “you/they/we” the be verb is “are”. Then he seemed to get it. He went back to his seat, and when he came back to show me his new work, he had the same mistakes he had just reorganized the words. I was just so frustrated.

            Anyway, after class I went down towards town to check on our T-shirt orders for the play. Garrod has put me in charge of T-shirts so I had to go see how they were coming. Turns out, despite the check I handed the check in today, that they could print them by 4 which means they would have been ready for opening. They only printed half which actually works out better for us. I had lunch at Tide Table, watched William and Mary and Old Dominion on ESPN, hadn’t seen a college hoop game in a couple weeks, and then went back to the trailer for a nap.

            I knew it was going to be a long day but I didn’t know nearly quite how long. When I woke up I went back to get the shirts and two more bulbs for the set. Derek joined me. When we got back, Garrod had called a meeting with us all in which he pretty much thanked us for all that we were doing. The first show of appreciation that I’ve seen from him on this trip honestly. Usually he’s running around yelling at actors or barking at one of us but he clearly stated that he was appreciative of our work today. Edie and Anna were doing stuff for the play during the meeting but when he asked if anyone had comments, I made it a point to suggest that he pull Edie and Anna aside and tell them the same thing that he told us because I’m sure they could use hearing that considering their stress levels lately.

            So we opened tonight. Of course, things could never go smoothly ever, let alone on opening night. The play was scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m. On Marshallese time that means like 8:30. Well at about 6:30 the power went out in the library which is where we were doing make-up. Luckily the power at the building from which the set was getting its power was still on. The power going out, of course, meant that the A/C was out and so we were in the library which is hot as is, with about 40 people and no lights. I left. Just after the A/C came back on in the library, it started raining. So of course no one was going to come to the play now. WE ended up having about 60 people show up.  The audience has chairs set for about 250, so it looked super empty. Samifua was back from the one year anniversary of his mother’s death in Seattle, so the gospel choir showed up and sang before the play, during intermission and at the end. They stayed and kept Eric and I company for most of the night.

            The play went well though. I think it’s far too long for any audience, let alone the Marshallese. We finished at about 11:10 and we started at about 7:15. So we’re talking about a four hour production. That’s pushing the line even on broadway, I don’t care if it is Shakespeare. Anyway, it was good to get the first night out of the way. After the play though, I made a realization. I don’t think it was anything terribly new for me but it was clear and the first time I verbalized it but, I don’t care about this play nearly enough to be here in the rain at 11:15 at night. When I realized that I went back to the trailer. I couldn’t sleep though. My mind was racing for about 40 minutes after laying down to sleep. I contemplated getting up and writing the final for the kids. Part of that came from the fact that I had just realized that I’ll be getting back from the play at this same time every night through Saturday and I have to grade 60 final exams before Friday. I’m not too excited about that. Hopefully Garrod won’t get too mad when I remind him that “teaching is our first priority and that nothing should get in the way of that.” But I very well may leave the play early on Thursday, or maybe not even come, so that I can grade these exams before class Friday.

            My last week here is supposed to be enjoyable. It’s not going to be enjoyable at all. Not until Saturday at about 11:30 when I can leave the set and ne’er return (Captain Barbosa voice from Pirate of the Caribbean). The Dartmouth folk contemplated setting the stage aflame after Saturday’s show. That was a joke even though, many of us wouldn’t mind seeing the end of Hamlet go up in smoke. I’m done with what I have to say but I’d like to end by describing a scene from last night’s dress rehearsal as told to me once by Professor Garrod and later, in a much better more suspenseful fashion, by Derek.

            The dress rehearsal was over, the bus was taking the kids back to their homes and all but five people were straggling behind. Those four people were Derek, Robyn, Jonathan, Professor Garrod and Scott Stege, husband of the Secretary of Education. They were giving the area a final look before heading back to the trailers when Derek noticed a pile of clothes in the middle of what would be the audience. Assuming it was someone’s left behind costume he went over to pick it up. When he got there he realized that it was not just a pile of clothes but that there was a boy wearing the clothes. Jonathan and Derek went over to attend to this. Jonathan poked the boy to get him to wake up. No reaction. Then he picked the boy’s arm up and when it fell limply back to the ground, Derek knew that something was wrong. He turned the boy over to find that his mouth was covered with foam and he was unresponsive. Derek checked for the pulse and, the way he told it to me was, “maybe I didn’t wait long enough, but I didn’t feel a pulse.” So then his life guarding background kicks in. He begins to give the kid CPR trying to resuscitate him. Meanwhile Jonathan is saying, “He doesn’t look too good.” Of course Derek then, either thinks or actually says, “No shit Sherlock!” Also, at this time, Robyn’s freaking out and screaming for help. So Garrod and Scott run over to attend to the boy and don’t really offer much more than moral support.

            “So I’m giving this kid CPR and if I’da given him three more thrusts I think I would have broken his ribs,” Derek told me. Finally the boy’s eyes shoot open like a zombie in a horror film. So then Derek pours water on this kids face and he eventually comes to. After debating between calling the ambulance or the police, they decided to hand him off to the night watchmen here at the school and let him handle it. As they were walking away, they noticed an empty bottle of vodka about 15 ft away from the boy under a tree.

            There’s a classic example of Marshallese culture. There’s no such thing as moderate or social drinking here. Either you’re sober or your pass out, black out, pulse-less drunk. Every Saturday and Sunday morning it’s so fun to just walk through Majuro and see the men sleeping on street benches or wobbling down the middle of the road. A lot of times they’re driving taxis or filling gas tanks. That’s part of why it doesn’t surprise me anymore that teachers come to school drunk. I think I mentioned it before but there’s one guy at the Middle School who I’m pretty sure is drunk at school two or three days a week. Everyone smells it but no one says anything to him or does anything about it. They’d rather poke fun at him or tell jokes about him to the principal. Yes TO the principal who then rebuts with a joke of his own. Warrar!!

            Okay, that’s really enough for today. Until next time, from Majuro, bar lo yok!

Day 68

March 8, 2010

 

Day 68:

 

 

            I woke up a little after 7 today and got ready early. Good thing I did. Someone called Peter this morning looking for a room key that I had from rehearsal last night. I got to the middle school and worked on my grades for the class. Bobby came in to the office today. I signed a letter on January 20^th about him, when I sent him to the office. Since then I saw him once in class. And three or four times on the streets of Majuro. Once I saw him walking away from school right as school was supposed to start. He just smiled at me and kept walking. I think his mother was there today. Apparently he had been reported again. The counselor asked me to sign his referral form as one of his teachers. I read over it, and unlike the first one, it was worded much better. This one, however, was titled ‘LAST CHANCE’. So he certainly has to straighten up his act or he’ll be kicked out of school. So now let me explain the conditions of this LAST CHANCE letter. He is ONLY allowed 3 absences, 5 tardies and 3 skips. That’s his last chance. I asked the counselor for a copy of the letter. That’s one of those things you take home. It speaks so much to the problems of this country. He told me he’d get me a copy when he came back with the parents’ signature. I won’t get a copy of that letter. Bobby’s liable to not show up to school again until May 1. Seriously. That’s about how long it’s been since I’ve seen him. What a shame.

            Class was encouraging today. When I got to my third period class, I asked the kids to take out their packets. I think I mentioned that it’s due Wednesday. Well five different kids finished the packet over the weekend. I certainly didn’t expect that many to do so. Maybe Monique and possibly Jessica, both of whom did, but there were three other people who finished. So now my plan to be done, lesson planning and creating worksheets has gone down the drain because I have to find something for those kids to do the next two days while the rest of the class is finishing up their packets. It’s a good problem to have tough. I’d rather them finish super early, than to not finish or finish late.

            Fourth period wasn’t nearly that proactive. One kid thought he had finished over the weekend and was ready at the beginning of class but he had several mistakes that I pointed out. He hadn’t finished by the end of class. Two other kids did however. Bobby wasn’t in class. It’s crazy because his LAST CHANCE conditions won’t go into effect until he returns the letter signed by a parent. So if he decides to skip school for the next three weeks and then finally get the letter signed, he’ll be just as fine as if he turns in the letter tomorrow.

            After class I went to the trailer and made my grilled cheeses. After that I worked on the 7^th grade standardized tests that I’m writing. I got through the table reading and recipe reading. I have no idea where to get the vocabulary from. I’m thinking I might leave that section to Toni and/or Amy. They’re World Teach teachers that I mentioned the test to and they said they would carry it on after I left. I’m thinking I’ll do two or three more pages of grammar and reading comprehension and call it a wrap.

            After that I took a 20 minute nap and walked to Ace Hardware and EZ Price with Edie. Seeing her in a hardware store was quite the site. I left to get masking tape while she was deciding which staples we needed for the staple gun. When I realized she wasn’t behind me I returned to the aisle and she was crouched picking up loose staples from the ground that had fallen out of the box. We hurried up and hid the ones that we could on the shelf, grabbed a new box and got out of there.

            The next stop was rehearsal. I moved back and forth from the set to the trailers as we waited for the dress rehearsal to start and Eric to finish the food. The dress rehearsal went very well though. I think its going to be great. I’m still convinced that the audience will be pretty confused at the end considering the play is Hamlet, I’m confused about it still. But it should be good. The community will respond well to it and the kids will do great. Eric and I drummed from the second floor and hung with the characters that weren’t acting the whole time. It was a good time. We stood there for about 4 hours drumming but it wasn’t too bad. Several kids ending up coming up to the second floor to watch us drum which isn’t abnormal, people stare at us all the time here. But it got to be too much and so we had to send the kids elsewhere and separate ourselves from them because they were playing with the microphone and trying to hit our drums. Tomorrow we’re going to barricade ourselves from the general audience.  Everything went well though. We finished at 11:10 and to top the night off Eric and I joined the cast for the curtain call.

            This time next week I’ll be ¾ the way to Honolulu. It’s weird to think that we’re leaving here already but at the same time, it seems like 6 months ago that we landed. Time goes so slow and so fast at the same time here. I’m very eager to get back home but I can’t say I won’t miss this place. I’ll miss the $.50 taxis, and the $3 laundry loads. I’ll certainly miss my students, especially my third period. I know I’m not supposed to have favorites, but I’m not going to be a teacher anyway so what difference does it make? I like my third period more than my fourth. I’m going to miss the weather. There are also things that I won’t miss about Majuro. I won’t miss the power outages. I won’t miss the hundreds of stray, rabid dogs. I won’t miss the cold showers. I won’t miss having to boil all the water. The thing I won’t miss most of all, though, is standing out.

            For some reason I thought, before coming here, that I would fit in. More so than I do at Dartmouth. The Dartmouth black population is something like 8.5%. I figured coming to a country with darker skinned people, I’d certainly fit in. Yeah right. Either way you look at it I’m still a rebele to them. And I probably stick out more than the others. I certainly stick out here more than I do at Dartmouth. More than I did in high school. I think one of the first things I’ll do when I get home is go down to Clifton with Elani or go to Avondale with some people and just be on of hundreds of black people. In an environment where I can sit somewhere and not feel like I stick out. Sometimes sticking out is good. Usually sticking out is good. And usually I stick out in good ways. But then there are scenarios that we have no control over and we can’t alter the ways in which people see us as different. It’s possible that if I go to Clifton, I’ll still be seen as the Ivy Leaguer amongst the state schoolers, but as long as I don’t feel outcaste I don’t mind. That’s a distinction I’m willing to live with at this point.

            I was talking to Anna earlier in the trip and she was speaking to the same thing. Here she is seen as rebele and she’s going home for I think three days in Portland, Oregon and then flying to Buenos Aires, Argentina for the next ten weeks. She’s going from being a rebele in Majuro to being a gringa in Argentina. She was saying how she doesn’t know how she’ll react to always being seen as different. I saw the opportunity but decided to keep my mouth shut, but I wanted to tell her that that’s the way many Black people feel in America. Except they don’t have a safe haven to retire to. Anyway, I’m excited to get back and see other black people and people who speak fluent English. Hopefully when I go to Panama City Beach for spring break, I’ll blend in there. I’ll just be another college kid looking for a good time and a break from school. We shall see. Until next time, from Majuro, bar lo yok.

Day 67

March 7, 2010

 

Day 67:

            Today was a pretty long day. I woke up late, something like ten. That was the latest I’d slept in since I’ve been in Majuro. Eric and I went to Dar and Peter ended up joining us there. Just after we arrived five World Teach teachers and one Marshallese girl came in as well. They were renting the golf cart and riding out to Laura. We spent most of breakfast talking about how upset we were with Garrod. Peter probably has the biggest argument on that front. Somehow, when we arrived here in Majuro, Peter became Professor’s Secretary. Professor didn’t have a phone so he would give everyone on the island Peter’s number and so whenever people wanted to talk to Garrod they called Peter. It worked out because Peter was always with him. Garrod would ask him to come for ‘drinky-poos’ and he couldn’t say no. He claimed that he felt bad because he was a lonely old man. So every night Garrod would order wines and Peter would drink milk shakes and listen to Garrod bitch about everybody.

            Well at breakfast today Peter let a lot of that out. He’s fed up. I refuse to let myself get upset with things that don’t really matter, AKA the play. Recently, Garrod has also been throwing bitch tasks at the Dartmouth folk because he forgot about them. Peter’s caught the brunt of that work. He’s been scrambling around the island trying to find the lights that Garrod wants: red, white, and blue. He’s also been working on making a switchboard for these lights as well as a sound board for the audio. Edie’s caught a lot of this as well. Today at rehearsal he asked her to find 80 bananas for the cast. She’s supposed to be the Assistant Director and he asked her to get bananas. And he has yet to say thank you. I feel like that’s the worst part of all. He only praises certain actors and has severe favorites. The ones he doesn’t like, he treats like shit. And often times he treats the Dartmouth folk the same way.

            Anyway, rehearsal went well. I went for comic relief and to try to be an outlet for the kids who were fed up with Garrod and his shenanigans. Tomorrow is the dress rehearsal and after that it’s the real thing. We’ve only got eight days left. Tomorrow starts the last week. I feel like the play, as well as the fact it’s the last week, is going to make time slow down severely. I just finished writing some more of my story, the plot has definitely thickened and I’ve got a great twist. It’s a really hard concept to convey though, so I’m still figuring out how I want to write it. If I pull it off, though, it could be a hit. Anyway, I’ve got to get some sleep. Until next time, from Majuro, bar lo yok.

Homeroom: 104

Great kids but they have the attention span of a fly

Jimmy and Jemithy on the walk back from getting donuts last Friday.

Day 66

March 6, 20

 

Day 66:

            Today I woke up early to run errands and get things ready for the Youth Nitijela. Eric went to the hospital last night halfway during tech rehearsal and turns out he has Strep again. That’s now twice in three weeks. So I then became in charge of the food preparation because he can’t touch the food. So I had to make the marinade and prepare about 50 pounds of chicken. We ended up giving about 20 of those pounds to Tide Table Restaurant because we had nothing to do with it and we had so much left.

            The banquet for the Youth Nitijela was really  nice though. Derek had awards prepared for them and everything. It was a pretty official occasion. I gained a lot of respect for Derek tonight though. Some of his better students gave speeches. Some in English and some in Marshallese but either way it was VERY clear that Derek had a huge impact in these kids’ lives. They were so appreciative of the work that he’d put in and I can’t say enough about how impressed I am with what he’s done. Getting these kids to write bills about issues affecting them here in the Marshall Islands, getting them to write it in bill format, getting them to speak publicly to their peers and into a microphone in front of strangers, that’s truly a testament to Derek. For those of you who don’t know, Marshallese people are shy by nature. Many students won’t answer a question if they’re called on in class. Most of them never raise their hand whether they know an answer or not. So to get them to speak into a microphone in front of strangers, I just can’t say enough about how impressed with Derek I am. I know Mrs. Summerville reads this blog and I’d like you specifically to know how impressed I, as well as the rest of the group, is with what Derek has done here in Majuro.

            After the banquet we were all pretty tired. I came back to the trailer and just chilled. Watched two episodes of Entourage, Lion King and most of Ratatouille before falling asleep.

            Also, for the avid readers, I apologize for not updating you on the status of the kid who went into diabetic shock during school. Turns out his name is Reinhart. Reinhart went to the hospital that Friday and was back in school on Friday. Ben has him in class and has asked him about it but he won’t talk about it. I’m pretty sure it was diabetes but it’s pretty typical for males not to admit to any weakness, diabetes being considered a weakness. He’s good though. Until next time, from Majuro, bar lo yok. 

Day 65

March 5

 

Day 65:

 

            Today in class I passed back the kids’ tests with corrections and handed out their review packets. When I told them it was 12 pages they freaked out. Then I told them they had until Wednesday to finish them. They were still freaked out. After class, I walked with my first class to get donuts because they had won the competition with the other class for a better class average. Only 12 of the 31 students came, but that was fine with me; I didn’t have to baby sit as much and I didn’t have to throw down nearly as much money as I expected. It cost me $15 for 30 donuts and 12 waters. Gotta love Majuro prices. On the walk back I learned something interesting about some Marshallese custom. Some of them like wouldn’t leave the shop where we got the donuts. I had to remind them of the rule we all agreed on before we left the school: that they promised to all come back to school. James then informed me that some Marshallese believe that bad spirits will haunt you if you eat and walk at the same time. So I decided not to pass out anymore donuts but rather let the kids take them as they wanted if they were comfortable eating and walking. I got some great pictures of the kids. It was a good experience.

            After my walk through Rita, I came back to the trailer. I then ended up helping Derek take some stuff to the Nitijela. I’ll now take the time to explain what that means and it’s significance to our group. The Nitijela is the Marshallese Congress basically. Derek is involved with a group in Florida called Youth in Government. It’s a branch of the National YMCA that gets kids involved in government simulations. They also have a national conference in North Carolina every year. His involvement in YIG has translated to the Marshalls. So with his senior government classes he has been working the whole quarter on getting the kids to understand the processes of the government and drafting their own bills. When we went to Bikrin with Senator DeBrum he told him about what he wanted to do and eventually got the chamber of the Nitijela donated to him so that he could hold a Youth Nitijela in which the kids presented their bills and such in the actual chamber of the Nitijela. Well that event is tomorrow. Also, he’s trying to work with the YMCA, the Nitijela and Dartmouth to get 8 of his best students to come as foreign ambassadors to the YIG conference in North Carolina this summer. So he’s doing big things here and most of his work culminates tomorrow.

            Switching gears, tonight was the Tech rehearsal for the play. So we had the set painted black, had all of the lights and speakers set up, and I played the bongos. We started around 8 and went until about 11:30. Then I had to drive five kids home in the golf cart which, was not designed for seven people to lap up and ride on it. After that I came back to the trailer and passed out.